Jim Robbins of Searsmont and four of his grandchildren experienced an amazing – and unprecedented – day of deer hunting on October 24, Maine’s Youth Deer Hunting Day. Jim described it in an emailed message to me as “fabulous.” It was all of that and more.

The adventure began at 8:30 am when Jim’s ten-year-old grandson Will shot his first deer, hunting close to the Robbins Lumber mill along the St. George River in Searsmont. The deer was about 200 yards away and young Will made a terrific shot.

A few hours later Jim was sitting on the river bank upstream from his house with his fourteen-year-old grandson Eli. They spotted a nice doe walking across the river in the shallows and Eli got off a good shot. Deer number two for the Robbins clan that day. At that point, you might think that they had already enjoyed an amazing day and might head for a hunter’s breakfast, calling it a day. But you do not know the Robbins family. They do love to hunt and fish, both important parts of their family heritage.

About 2:15 pm, the veteran hunter in this younger generation, Jim’s grandson Noah, who will turn 16 in mid-November, was at a ground blind overlooking a place where deer cross the river, when he spotted a huge doe wading across. No surprise here, given that Noah had already taken 6 deer and a big bull moose in his young life, he made a good shot and bagged the doe. He shot the big moose with his other grandfather, Stan Grover.

Noah legally shot two deer when he was 10. His birthday is November 19th so he shot his first one a few days after his tenth birthday. The next fall he shot a deer on youth day while he was still 10 and he has gotten a deer every year since! I sat next to Noah at a SAM banquet one year, I’m guessing he was 11 at the time, and asked him how the deer season had gone for him. He whipped out a small album of photos to show me his trophy buck!

Well, that’s some great Youth Day experience for the Robbins family, wouldn’t you say? But it wasn’t over!

At 3:30 pm, Jim’s son Alden got up in Jim’s tree stand out behind his pasture and barn with Jim’s 12-year-old granddaughter Lily.  After sitting patiently for 2 hours, a doe wandered out in front of them and Lily shot her.

“I can’t ever remember our family getting four deer in one day,” Jim told me. “Needless to say I had a bunch of happy grandchildren and parents.  It was definitely a great day.” That’s an understatement Jim!